Today is the first of the two big mountain stages in this year's Tour of Swaziland. We should expect to see a good fireworks show today, as the favorites all have some serious time to make up on current race leader Amaël Moinard. It will be interesting to see if his team decides to abandon him in favor of John Gadret, who is surely a more capable climber, or if they have confidence in his large gap to the other favorites and ride to defend his lead. Either way, the climbers need to attack today if they want to still have a shot at the win.
The favorites are: Alarcon, Gadret, Carrara Niemiec, Krasnoperov, Moreno, Ndbri, Raisin
The first attack of the day is initiated by Constantino Zaballa, who wants to give it another shot after his attack yesterday fell short. He is followed by Massimiliano Maisto, Maher Hasnaoui, and Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay.
Shortly after, Egon Luzi launches another attack with Giovanny Báez and Enrique Salgueiro.
The first intermediate sprint comes very early, and Maisto takes it with the only other challenge coming from Salgueiro. Zaballa rolls across the line to take 3rd.
The peloton aren't happy with the break for some reason and they push the pace trying to pull them back. It looks like Jayco has sent Gadret to the front to work, maybe a hint of the strategy that they have chosen?
The gap to the leaders reads 1'30" when another attack is launched. This time it is King Lok Cheung, Lars Petter Nordhaug, and Abdelkader Belmokhtar.
Andrea Pagoto decides to give it a go as well, and he is followed by Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio and Lucas Sebastian Haedo.
Gadret and Red Bull pull it all together though, except for Cheung, Hasnaoui, Salgueiro, and Belmokhtar, who have attacked away before the group was caught.
Zaballa, Pagoto, and Maisto still want a piece of it though as they all attack once again. This time though, they are joined by KoM leader Aaron Gate. A good tactic from Oz here, as that will give them 2 men in the break to defend the polka dot jersey.
As the two breakaways up ahead merge, there is another move from the peloton. Once again its familiar faces Báez and Haedo. They have a gap of 2'15" to close before they make contact with the 8 men up ahead.
And they do make contact after a short chase. It looks like this will be the break of the day, as they now hold a 3'00" lead with 160km remaining.
At the 2nd intermediate sprint, only Salgueiro and Maisto go for it. They cross in that order, with Zaballa rolling over for third.
The third intermediate sprint ends in exactly the same way. Salguiero 1st, Maisto 2nd, and Zaballa calmly leading the rest through for 3rd. It is very surprising that Haedo hasn't been going for these, you would think that the numerous sprints are the only reason he joined the breakaway.
You guessed it for the 4th and final intermediate sprint. Salgueiro and Maisto are the only ones sprinting for it again, and they cross in that order. This time Haedo crosses in 3rd without sprinting. Well that's a couple of points at least. The gap is 7'00" with 86km remaining.
Jayco - Red Bull have organized on the front now behind John Gadret as they begin to ramp up the pace.
As we reach the foothills before the climbs, Pirelli have now joined the chase, seeking to defend Iannetti's 3rd place. With 36km left to race, the gap is 3'37". It will be close.
As soon as the breakaway hit the climb, the first gaps start to open up. Unfortunately for Oz, both of their riders are in the first 4 dropped, throwing a wrench in their plans to extend Gate's KoM lead. Also dropped are Haedo and Pagoto. Hasnaoui is in between the two groups, not fat enough to get dropped instantly but too fat to stay with the leaders. He has plenty of years to develop though.
And the peloton picks them all up very quickly. Hasnaoui is still ahead, probably not for very long.
The remnants of the breakaway summit the climb without going for any of the points on offer in the following order: Báez (16), Belmokhtar (12), Salgueiro (10), Maisto (8), and Zaballa (6).
There's movement in the peloton 1km from the summit. Bjelkmark attacks past Hasnaoui. Keep in mind he that Saab also has Salgueiro up ahead, and if they could get 2 riders up the road, Eltink may be set up very well. The move is countered by Dueñas, Osella, and Krasnoperov.
They don't get far though due to the hot pace being set by superdomestique John Gadret. Osella is the last to be pulled back by AUS Postal.
The gap reads 1'00" over the top of the climb with 18km to go. Salgueiro recognizes that the breakaway's days may be numbered, so he launches an attack. He doesn't get far as he is quickly marked by everyone in the group except Zaballa, who is momentarily tailed off but regains contact shortly.
And back at the peloton, its now race leader Moinard making a move! Apparently he isn't satisfied with just limiting his losses today, and would prefer to take the fight to his competitors. The reaction comes from Osella, Duenas Nevado, Carrara, and Krasnoperov.
Pirelli will have none of it though as Saldarriaga brings it back together for his man Iannetti, who is hanging still hanging strong.
Now the white jersey gives it ago as Krasnoperov takes off with Carrara hot on his wheel.
But its Jayco's team to shut things down once again as they bring it all back together on the descent before the final climb, including the riders from the early breakaway who were caught by Krasnoperov's attack.
Gadret leads as they reach the slopes of the final climb. There are 3.6 kilometers with an average gradient of 9.4%, and then another 3.5km before the finish line.
Shaun Lewis launches the first attack. He is followed by Zakayo Ndbri, Mikayil Krasnoperov, and Przemyslaw Niemiec. They aren't gaining much ground though as Saldarriaga is setting a very quick pace.
Nbdri seems to be the only one who can break free from the blistering pace now set my Moreno, as he manages to open up a small gap of 15". He is 1 kilometer from the summit.
He increases his gap by 11 seconds over the final kilometer of the climb and now holds 26" on the peloton as he crosses the summit. It is all flat for the final few kilometers though, and that is not his favorite terrain. The Jayco powerhouse behind him will probably pull him back in.
The group behind Ndbri consists of 12 riders. They are Krasnoperov, Raisin Alarcon Niemiec, Osella Eltink, Bjelkmark Colorado, Dueñas Carrara Jiriakov
and Lewis
Is that a mis-count? I don't see any Jayco riders in the group.
There they are. It appears as though Moinard has just lost contact as they summited the climb, and Gadret and Moreno have been ordered back to help him! They have around 25 seconds to pull back in a very short time. It looks like Maisto is just along for the ride.
Meanwhile, Ndbri is now inside the final kilometer, and surprisingly he still holds a gap of 32"! Surely he is tired, and the question is will he be able to hold off the group behind him as they start to sprint.
And the answer is yes! He doesn't even slow down as the group behind is still a significant distance away. Zakayo Ndbri will "Nd-breathe" a sigh of relief as he crosses the finish line to take an exhilarating stage win! Now the question is what will this mean for the GC picture?
Niemiec leads the group in the sprint ahead of Krasnoperov and Eltink.
Alarcon is absolutely flying though as he seeks out the time bonus. Its going to be close...
And Alarcon will pip Niemiec on the line to take 2nd on the day. Eltink holds on for 4th, Krasnoperov maintains 5th, Carrara takes 6th, Raisin takes 7th, Jiriakov manages 8th, Dueñas ends up 9th, and Colorado finishes the top 10. It looked as though they all finished in one big group, but the officials results are registering a small gap of 8 seconds between Eltink and Krasnoperov. Ndbri's gap to Alarcon was 27 seconds.
Here's Jayco. The gap from Ndbri to Moinard is 1'34", so he will keep his jersey, but that is a significant chunk out of his lead. Gadret and Moreno are about 20 seconds ahead, perhaps this will influence the tactics tomorrow?
As predicted, today saw some very significant changes in the standings. While Moinard will keep his lead, Iannetti and Rovira are both out of the podium, in fact out of the top 10 all together, and in their place are Ndbri and Niemiec. Ndbri is definitely the biggest winner on the day, as not only did he take the stage win, but jumped an astounding 24 places in the standings, from 26th to 2nd! Alarcon also made a big jump, from 11th to 4th, and will also take the young rider's jersey out of Krasnoperov's hands.
Everything is still relatively compact though, as places 2nd through 13th are all within about a minute of one another. Gate, while failing to gain any more mountain points, will keep the KoM jersey, while Niemiec will take over the points jersey. And while we didn't see Jayco - Red Bull dominate the top-10 for the first time this race (in fact they failed to place a single rider in the top 10), they will still retain their lead in the Teams competition.
